The Taliban killed the head of Kunar’s peace council in a suicide attack, four policemen in separate attacks in Helmand, and an ISAF soldier in the east. The foreign minister said US drone attacks would no longer be launched from Afghanistan after 2014.
China warned against using force on Iran, saying an attack would invite devastating retaliation that would envelop the region. The US continued to tighten sanctions.
Attacks on the Syrian opposition continued. Thousands demonstrated across the country demanding an end to the regime. The UN Security Council urged the Syrian government to halt attacks. Turkey told the UN it needed help with Syrian refugees.
An al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula suicide bomber killed himself in a premature detonation while attempting to assassinate an intelligence official in Aden. President Hadi fired the chief of the air force, who is also former President Saleh’s half brother.
United Arab Emirates detained two members of a US pro-democracy organization and barred a third from leaving the country. Two other pro-democracy organizations, an American and German, were shut down.
Ethiopian and Somali forces took control of two more towns in Bay province. “Gunmen” killed a Somali journalist outside of his home in Beledweyne. Somaliland security forces detained three men and a woman with French passports.
A prominent Shia sheikh said the US and the CIA are behind the bombings in northern Nigeria. The US and the United Kingdom issued travel advisories for citizens visiting Nigeria.
Viktor Bout has been sentenced to 25 years in prison. His amoral flexibility allowed him to serve everyone from al Qaeda and the Taliban, on the one hand, to military contractors in Iraq.
Q&A: Ahmed Rashid on Pakistan’s Many Challenges
Panetta: Political dysfunction threatens security
Brother of Ohio soldier: ‘We are a nation at war’
Egyptian protesters rally to keep Islamist in race
Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout was sentenced to concurrent prison terms of 25 and 15 years for conspiring to obtain and use of antiaircraft missiles, attempt to kill Americans, and provide material support to a terrorist organization. In 2004 the US Treasury noted allegations that Bout had made $50 million by selling arms to the […]
China Says Wanted Militants Use Nearby Countries to Stage Attacks
Three Cups of Tea author must pay $1m to his charity
China names six Uighurs on terror list
A Pakistani counterterrorism official wants you to believe the Lashkar-e-Taiba emir is on the side of the angels. Seriously.
The Taliban have carried out three major suicide attacks in the past week in northern and western Afghanistan.
For the first time since the enactment of anti-terror legislation last year, China designated specific individuals as terrorists and froze their assets. The designations consisted of six “core” members of the East Turkistan Islamic Movement.
Pakistani Lawmakers Criticize US Reward for Militant Leader
Muslim militants in south Thailand growing stronger
City police beef up security in wake of Karachi attack
Pakistan – US bounty on Saeed a wrong signal: PM
The Islamist Spring
Number of jailed journalists nearly doubles in Turkey
Egyptian Islamists pin their hopes on Islamic law
An apparent cyberattack took down several of al Qaeda’s websites between March 23 and April 2. Announcing it was back online, Shamukh al-Islam, a main al Qaeda website, claimed the attack was the work of the “enemies of Allah” and said that instead of one network, al Qaeda has “tens of networks.”
A suicide bomber killed three people in an attack in Karachi. The Foreign Office said Pakistan would not accede to US pressure to turn over Lashkar-e-Taiba leader Hafiz Saeed.
Gunmen attacked an Afghan Local Police outpost in Farah, killing eight and capturing two more. In Badakhshan, a suicide bombing at a checkpoint killed an ALP commander and one other person; the blast outside a girls’ school also wounded 16 civilians. Intelligence operatives foiled an attempt to assassinate the governor of Parwan.
The ALP have been the target of attacks and infiltration in the past week.